Sister Saturdays – Michelle & Dawn
I don’t always love when things work out as they do- but I always am somehow reminded that things happen for me, not to me. My favorite part of the work I do is connecting with inspiring women, hearing their stories, watching them move through such traumatic life crap with grace, and mess, and beauty. Its truly an honor and something I do not take lightly. And I have yet to meet a woman managing cancer who hasn’t risen to the challenge.
I met Michelle and Dawn through my work with B4BC, but there was something particularly special about the both of them, and even without words, finding themselves in front of a sunset together shortly after they met. These two (young) women that have touched my heart and inspired me beyond words have somehow come together (again) this week, just like we all did back in 2017. Although Michelle has left to do her thing on the other side- I still feel her today working her spirit connection magic just like she did on earth.
I spoke with Dawn yesterday, and she is still the sparkly kind being she has always been for me, and this story she shares below is funny, poignant, relative to the shit one goes through with cancer as a young person. And it’s something Dawn shared with Michelle way back, and somehow it was buried in emails for the past 3 years. I’m happy to share it today.
With love,
Megs
The story of Board Barf
It’s summer 2012, I’m bald as a bat, undergoing chemotherapy, and in charge of producing 3,000 pieces of fake vomit for my snowboard brand Crab Grab. Oh the irony. Never in my wildest dreams did I see this coming…
The backstory: My husband and I started Crab Grab in 2011, we make mitts, traction and accessories for snowboarding. My husband designs all products and our amazing manufacturing partners make his fun ideas into reality. He happened to find a family owned company in the US that had been making fake barf for 50 years as a prank toy. It was too good to be true, American made barf for snowboards, yes please. Sounded great at the time. Through various steps of working with 3M (adhesive guru’s) we found a compatible adhesive to stick the vomit to your top sheet. It just required us applying the adhesive sheet, hand cutting out the barf, then packaging it. We prebooked 3,000 pieces that fall of 2011 and decided with would be the manufactures for the product, making it a fun summer project. Summer was a little different that I had planned.
May 2012, I found out I had invasive ductal carcinoma (a type of breast cancer). I chose to have a double mastectomy followed by chemo, radiation and hormone therapy. Come June 2012 we had 3,000 pieces of barf to make and I’m just getting started with chemo… I instantly wished I never committed to making all this barf, it seemed like some kind of sick joke. Thank you to a handful of gracious friends we pulled it off, but it was no small feat, and gave me a whole new perspective on barf.
